Especially in the case of Baha'i one can see that the leader is very important. Perhaps this book is a bit biased because it is a biography of Baha'u'llah (picture on the left) not a book about how Baha'i started, but this book makes Baha'u'llah seem like the reason Baha'i came into existence and was able to sustain itself. The same can be said for the Babis, without Baha'u'llah that movement would have collapsed too. As he moved to and from different places during exile, it seems like the Babis community in the city he left would fall apart without him and in the city he moved to he would build back up or create a Babis community. The impression I got from the book was that Baha'u'llah was kind of single-handedly keeping these Babis/Baha'i ideas afloat.
Another important element that helped this movement was the non-violence. I think Baha'u'llah had experience enough violence from other religions that he knew it was not helpful to anyone. The fact that the Babis still had things in common with the main religion of the region was helpful and harmful. Helpful because you read in the book several stories about Baha'u'llah connecting with other religions through common characters such as the martyr Imam Husayn. Harmful because I think it scared the existing establishment. The creation of Baha'i was a long process. It is building upon the group the great Bab was leading so has been in the making for awhile.
Non-violence is an element of Baha'u'llah's diplomatic posture. He did not mind that people outside his faith were violent towards him - martyrdom was taken without question on a couple of occasions, accounted for in his biography. But, this peaceful and respectful 'non-violence' he exhibited to government officials was not only more intimidating to his rivals than a threat of violence, but a message that violence would get nowhere with Baha'u'llah or his newly established faith. That the faith will transcend death, when, in fact, it could not with all dead followers. So, he was tricky.
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